Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Heart Map {via At Home with Ali}

We are spreading kindness this month through our 100 Acts of Kindness project. We are challenging our readers to perform 100 acts of kindness between Jan 16th and Feb 14th. You can read more about our kindness challenge here. Many of our blogging friends have joined the challenge and will be sharing ways that you can spread kindness here and on their blogs. Today we have Ali from At Home with Ali as our guest blogger. She is sharing how her daughter created a heart map. What a sweet activity! Welcome Ali!

As part of the 100 Acts of Kindness Project I started to talk to my eldest daughter, who is almost 4, about love and kindness. Cakey wanted concrete examples of how to be kind to people. I suggested comforting someone who has hurt themselves, helping a friend with a difficult task or smiling at a stranger. She offered up the suggestion of drawing a picture for someone she loved: "that would be nice, wouldn't it mummy?" "Yes absolutely" I replied.

Keen to make the most of her enthusiasm I asked whether she would like to make a heart map – a picture showing what it is you love about someone (this project was inspired Riverside Elementary Art). Cakey liked this idea so I pulled out a large piece of black paper and drew an outline of a heart. She got to work with her favourite packet of oil pastels.

Cakey decided to draw her heart map for Puppy (so much for her parents!!). Puppy is her little toy dog who goes with her everywhere, he is very special to her and I live in fear of losing him.

The most wonderful thing about this project was that she commentated throughout, telling me exactly what she was drawing. First she drew puppy (the little brown animal in the middle), then she drew herself in her favorite pink dress. She joined hands of the two little figures (the blue bit). In the right hand corner Cakey drew a sun in the sky and in the left hand corner she drew a rainbow. She then drew yellow hats on the figures' heads so they don't get sunburned from the hot sun and included a small, pink umbrella for shade. Cakey then started to fill the rest of the heart with dots and splodges which she said was treasure.

To finish off her heart map she decorated it with glitter and some little hearts that I cut out for her. This was a lovely little project and Puppy's heart map is proudly displayed in her room.

This heart map is part of the The Heart Project, a collaborative project involving more than 50 bloggers. The Heart Project is a fundraiser with all proceeds going to the American Heart Association. The Heart Project ebook is available this month by making a $5 donation.

Ali is a stay at home mum to two beautiful daughters. She loves the challenge of trying to channel her girls' interests and ideas into activities they can do together. She writes about their progress – some good, some bad, on her blog At home with Ali. You can also find her sharing her fun ideas on Facebook and Pinterest too.

Thanks Ali for being our guest blogger today! I love when I learn about something new and a "heart map" is new to me! What a wonderful activity to do together. Ali is a super mom, so you'll definitely want to swing by her blog and check out some of her other posts. My two favorites are her post about Crafting with Two (quite a balancing act) and her recent styrofoam solar system (gorgeous!).

If you've missed any of our kindness challenge posts so far, you can catch up by clicking the links below:

Also, have you donated to The Heart Project yet? As our ultimate kind act we are trying to raise over $2,000 for the American Heart Association by February 14th. I actually think that we can raise more than that... since we raised a $1,000 in just one day. We'd love to give you our free ebook filled with 100 + heart projects for kids when you donate. Go check it out!

Thanks chelle. It was the first time she has told me exactly what she is drawing so I was thrilled. Normally when I ask she replies 'I don't know' or 'it's not finished yet'. It was fascinating to have a glimpse of her thought processes.Thanks to toddler approved for giving me the opportunity to guest post.

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